(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to rims for wheels for human powered vehicles such as bicycles, wheel chairs and the like, and especially to novel rims with reinforced spoke seats and methods for producing them.
(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
A great deal of effort has been directed to reducing the weight of rims for wheels for human powered vehicles and especially bicycle wheel rims. Bicycle wheel rims are typically produced by extruding aluminum alloy or the like to produce a linear extrusion having a cross section corresponding with the finished rim, rolling the extrusion into a circular shape, cutting the extrusion to length and connecting the free ends with pins, plugs or welds. In a finished wheel, the greatest stresses on the rim are concentrated where spokes that support the rim relative the hub of the wheel are supported on or connected to the rim at spoke connection points or spoke seats. As a consequence, if a rim is uniformly shaped about its circumference, the areas between the spoke connection points will be thicker and heavier than they need to be in order for the spoke connection points along the rim to be strong enough to withstand the stresses they encounter. This means that the rim will be heavier than it needs to be. No small inventive effort has been directed at making rims lighter overall but reinforcing rims at spoke connection points and using inserts adapted to distribute the stresses on the rim that are caused by the spokes, thereby lightening the rim.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,256 discloses a rim with a nominal wall thickness in spoke boring zones and a wall thickness in intermediate zones between boring zones that is less than the nominal thickness. Between the boring zones and the intermediate zones, transitional zones of the rim wall have a thickness that varies progressively from the nominal thickness to the thickness of the intermediate zone. According to the patent, the rim is produced by producing a rim blank and machining portions of the outside surface of the rim wall to create the intermediate zones and the transitional sections, leaving the original, nominal thickness of the rim in the boring zones.
Other patents disclose rims with wall sections that are thickened to withstand the forces exerted on the rims by spokes under tension. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,557 discloses a rim with circumferential rings 68 of increased thickness in spoke attachment zones. U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,849 discloses a rim with sections of increased thickness where spokes are attached to the rim and an internal ridge that may strengthen the rim.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,580 discloses several embodiments of rims with reinforced spoke seats, including some that appear to be impossible to produce.